Shelbyville council debates charter changes on voter eligibility, utility-board appointments; asks staff to clarify 'ratepayer'

Shelbyville — The Shelbyville City Council met in a special study session on Tuesday to review proposed amendments to the city charter, with discussion centered on voter qualifications, eligibility for utility-board membership and the definition of "ratepayer," and ambiguous language about candidate background checks.

Mayor (Speaker 7) opened the meeting and read aloud the charter provisions under review, including Article 2, Section 3 (voter qualifications) and Article 17, Section 3 (eligibility to serve as a citizen member of power, water and sewer boards). The council focused on a clause that allows persons who own taxable property outside the city limits but pay taxes to vote in municipal elections.

Legal counsel (Speaker 1) told the council that, according to state law cited in the meeting, the city has the authority to permit or prohibit nonresident property owners from voting. "State law provides that you all can prohibit or allow," Speaker 1 said during the discussion of voter qualifications. Council members were split: some argued property owners who pay taxes should be allowed to vote, while others said allowing nonresidents to vote risks diluting the votes of city residents. "Just because you own property here does not give you a right to vote in the election," one council speaker (Speaker 6) said in opposition to broad nonresident voting rights.

After extended discussion about practical registration rules and the prospect of owners registering in different wards every two years, the council signaled it would not change Article 2, Section 3 at this meeting. Staff explained that voters must choose one ward to register in, and the council chose to leave the charter language in place while asking staff to confirm how often ward registrations are switched in practice.

The meeting also returned repeatedly to Article 17, Section 3, which sets qualifications for citizen members of the city—s utility boards, including a two-year ratepayer requirement and a minimum age. Council members recalled a May 2023 appointment in which a utility official refused to swear in an appointed member because the charter lacked a clear definition of "ratepayer." Council members and legal counsel recommended incorporating the same definitions used in a prior council resolution into the charter or otherwise spelling out whether a ratepayer could include a spouse or a business owner on an account.

"If you follow your charter," Speaker 1 said, "they'll follow that because you've got it in your charter, not just a resolution." Council members asked staff to consult the Shelbyville power, water and sewer authority and its attorney to ensure any charter change would be accepted by the utility and would not prevent an appointed member from legally signing documents.

Council members also flagged ambiguous language in Section 3.6 about candidate ineligibility tied to "a judgment of unpaid for any monies received by them in any official capacity" and asked staff to review how other charters treat background checks and indebtedness provisions. The mayor pointed out outdated salary figures in the charter and asked staff to prepare updates to reflect current practice or to note that salaries can be set by ordinance.

The council briefly discussed broader governance questions — including whether Shelbyville might examine a change in form to an elected mayor or greater city-manager authority as the city grows — but did not take action on that topic during the session.

Outcomes and next steps: the council left Article 2, Section 3 as written for now; it directed staff to circulate the applicable resolution language, to consult the utility authority and its attorney about the ratepayer definition and the signing authority of appointed board members, and to review the background-check and indebtedness language in Section 3.6 for clearer statutory alignment. No formal ordinance or charter amendment was adopted at the meeting.

Reporting note: Quotes and attributions are drawn from the official meeting transcript. Where a speaker did not give a formal name in the record, the article attributes remarks to the speaker number and role as recorded in the transcript.